Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Power From Fasting

So many wonderful things have happened this week, I honestly don't even know where to begin...

Let's start with Fausto-

Fausto is one of our new investigators that we have been teaching. He is from the Dominican Republic and doesn't really speak any English at all. All four of his children were baptized a couple months ago and they are AMAZING! Such strong little spirits, and at such young ages. We've been taking different members from our ward over with us to help us teach him (because my Spanish isn't the best, and dominicans speak a bazillion miles an hour) Haha...needless to say, our very first appointment with him, I felt like a new missionary all over again. I couldn't say what I wanted to say or what I felt like needed to be said and I felt like I was only getting fractures of the conversation. By the end I finally just shared my testimony with him that I knew if he had faith the Lord could answer his prayers.. All of us were in tears and the spirit was so strong even though I was partially lost and my companion had NO IDEA what we were even talking about. Haha. Oh the joys of learning a language. So we invited Fausto to come to church and he said he would come. When Sunday rolled around, he was there with all four of his cute litte kids. I was thrilled to death. His oldest daughter had actually just returned from Girl's Camp and so the Bishop asked her to come up at the beginning of sacrament meeting and share her testimony. So she goes up there and, in spanish, shares her testimony, and then looks straight at her dad and says, "I am so grateful that my dad came here today. I love him so much. He means everything to me." I looked over to see Fausto's face... He was beaming. Just glowing with joy. I couldn't have been happier in that moment. So awesome. Later, during church, we decided to go to the Spanish gospel principles class with Fausto. The entire lesson was on Alma 5- which is only like the most amazing chapter in Alma. It's just very bold, straight to the point and teaches the doctrines of Christ. Well- he loved it and wrote down the reference so that he could go home and read over the whole chapter. It was so fun to be in that class even though I couldn't really say anything, I understood and I felt the power of the spirit in that class. At the end, the teacher picked on me to give the prayer in Spanish. I won't lie, I was scared to death, I've prayed in Spanish, but never in public before.. But I got up there anyway and just opened my mouth and I kid you not, words just started coming that I didn't even know I had in there. It was a pretty special experience for me.

Ok also on Sunday- that evening- Sister Sibbett and I were out in our area trying to contact a certain family in our ward. Well, they weren't home and we didn't feel like where we had planned to go was where we were supposed to be so we just started driving and decided to go to a certain area where we knew there were some people we hadn't tried. When we got there we met a lady who used to belong to the Restoration Branch and all she wanted to do was argue with us and tell us that what we believe wasn't true.. I was like, ok, "this is not what I came here to do.." So I just shared my testimony with her and we were on our way.. The next place we went to was frustrating too... We just weren't having any success or feeling like we were where we were supposed to be. Finally, we thought ok, lets go try to contact this referral... we get there and the husband answers the door and he's super sweet but very busy and doesn't feel like he has time to learn more about the Gospel.. Long story short, while we're talking with this guy we see this lady carrying all these heavy boxes up 3 flights of stairs so we offer our help and she says, "No, I've got this..." so we keep talking to the husband.. well he's not biting, so we start to leave and see this same lady at the bottom of the steps with only 3 boxes left. So we go up to her and say, "We don't care if we're in dresses, we are going to take these boxes upstairs for you.." She laughs and follows us up the stairs..

Her name is Sharon and she is leaving her husband.. That's what she tells us anyway... So she's leaving her husband but she's super positive about the whole situation and tells us her life story.. Then as we're talking- she puts her leg up to her other knee and totally starts standing like a stork! I said, "SHARON! I have never met anyone else in my life, besides family, that stands like me!!!" Haha, it was so silly to be so excited about that, but I was because I really felt so strongly that I was supposed to meet her even before she did that. Ha, it was a great bonding moment for us. We continued to talk and listen to Sharon's experiences and then we started to testify of the Gospel. That's when Sharon told us that she belonged to a break off group and knew the Book of Mormon was true but didn't agree with the church.. Next thing I know, I'm saying, "Sharon I know that the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints contains the fulness of the Gospel and that if you want to feel peace in your life you need to be baptized by someone who holds that Priesthood Authority from God." Sharon looks at me, with tears in my eyes, and says, "I know, I know it's true." And then I said, "I know it's true too and that we have a prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson who leads and guides Christ's church. What is holding you back?!" She said, "I'm running. I'm running from the truth because I'm scared." I said, "why are you scared Sharon?" She said, "Because of all the guilt I have in my life." By that point all of us were in tears. I go up to Sharon, hug her tight, and say, "Sharon, that's why there's Jesus Christ! So you don't have to hold onto that guilt. Will you allow us to teach you?" It was a pretty powerful moment and the spirit was so strong..Then she said, "I'm not ready for that yet..." Feeling a little discouraged, Sister Sibbett looked at me and we were both thinking the exact same thing. We knew right then we needed to sing to Sharon, "I Am a Child of God." So we did and sang in Samoan as well.. as we're singing we decide to sing the third verse that basically says "if I but learn to do His will, I'll live with Him once more.." When we finished singing, she was bawling and couldn't speak.. None of us could really... We gave her a pamphlet to read and invited her to read Mosiah 24 in the Book of Mormon. She said she would. She never set a follow up appointment with us but she allowed us to pray with her and said we could call her at the end of this week. I keep praying and praying that she will continue to soften her heart and see that this Gospel can and will change her life for the eternities. Stay tuned for next weeks results! Haha.

So many other great things happened this past week because of the fast. I wish I had the time to write about all of them. We met with a family who recently joined the chruch and the mother is struggling to come to church. On Sunday we saw the dad there, but not the mom so I asked for her number, called her, and said, "Sister, I'm new, you're new, I need you here. Let's be new together. Please come. I need you to sit next to me." She had just woken up and with some hesitation said, "Ok... but I'm going to be late.." I said, "That's ok, better late than never." I'll admit I was a little doubtful at first that she'd come, but much to my surprise, after sacrament was passed, she walked in the doors and stayed for the entire meeting! It was so awesome. She even said she'd feed us dinner on Sunday. Haha. I was pretty stoked.

That experience made me think a lot about all of those precious souls who have gone astray or feel alone. If we will just reach out and say, "I need you" and truly mean it, I know that we can help them to feel the love of the Savior and realize that their talents and gifts are unique and that they really are needed in God's kingdom. Never be afraid to reach out to those who need your help. For with God, nothing is impossible. I love Jesus Christ! He is the best! I am so thankful for the opportunities my Heavenly Father has given me to learn and to grow and to see the divine worth in every one of His Children. I love you all!